My friend Long told me that in his (Vietnamese) family, the first birthday is celebrated with extra vigor. This made me curious so I did a little research and collected a few different cultural approaches.
In Japan the toddler carries a large rice cake piggyback for good luck. The hunk of food symbolizes the parents' hope that the child will never go hungry.
When Pearl hit the 100 day mark, I wrote about the Korean ritual marking the first 100 days. In the Korean culture, the first year anniversary is even more elaborately heralded. In the past, the high death rate of children made the first birthday a super milestone to celebrate. A child's 100 day birthday (baek-il) is less important than the Tol, the first year birthday. A special table of food is prepared. It includes 12 kinds of rice cake (ddeok) and colorful fruit displayed in rows.
Celebrations help us mark the passage of time, and our memories seem to focus on rituals. Add your own story about numero uno, if you want. How did you (will you/would you) commemorate a first birthday?
We take a photo of our son at the exact time he was born on every birthday. Given that he was born in the afternoon, this is not too difficult - if he'd been born in the middle of the night it might not be feasible.
Posted by: suzoz | 10 March 2005 at 10:18 PM
We lived in San Francisco at the time of Bunny's first birthday and had a lu'au (a "baby lu'au" is part of the Hawaiian culture...I was born in Hawaii.) Bunny was born in July and July happens to be the absolute coldest month in SF, but that summer we were having a heat wave. It was sunny and beautiful and in the 80's every day...except on Bunny's birthday which was freezing, windy and foggy. We have pictures of people in Hawaiian attire with ski caps and gloves on. But it certainly was memorable!
Posted by: CityMama | 12 March 2005 at 11:12 AM